In the meantime, California is set to decriminalize jaywalking statewide. FWIW: In the southern California city where I worked as a LEO, more pedestrians were struck and killed by motor vehicles annually than murdered during most of my three decades of service there.

Freedom to Walk Act’ to decriminalize jaywalking in California

Decriminalizing jaywalking will hopefully minimize racialized police violence and relieve lower income Californians disproportionately affected by infrastructure disparities from paying expensive fines.

Lily Button|
Deputy News Editor

OCTOBER 04, 2022

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147, “The Freedom to Walk Act,” to decriminalize jaywalking in California and mitigate racial bias in law enforcement on Friday.

“It should not be a criminal offense to safely cross the street,” said Assemblymember Phil Ting, author of the bill, in a press release. “When expensive tickets and unnecessary confrontations with police impact only certain communities, it’s time to reconsider how we use our law enforcement resources and whether our jaywalking laws really do protect pedestrians.”

Jaywalking stops are a historical source of police violence, according to Elisa Della-Piana, legal director for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Della-Piana noted that two police killings of African American men in San Clemente and San Mateo counties in the past three years were results of jaywalking violations.

She added that Black Californians are 4.3 times more likely to be stopped for jaywalking than white residents.

“There is deep racial bias in jaywalking enforcement,” Della-Piana said. “Rather than having jaywalking as an excuse for police to stop someone, usually disproportionately a Black or brown person, now the only enforcement that is allowed is when there is a safety issue.”

Della-Piana said AB 2147 places pedestrian safety at the forefront, whereas previous California jaywalking laws prioritized drivers.

Under the new legislation, pedestrians can only be fined for crossing the street where there is “immediate danger,” Della-Piana said. She noted safe street crosses made with distant and no surrounding cars are now legal, though the interpretation of offenses is left to the courts.

The bill will have a higher impact for urban areas like the Bay Area due to greater foot traffic and businesses, according to Della-Piana, who added that urban infrastructure needs to be more compatible with pedestrians and bicycles moving forward.

Ting noted his bill introduces discussion on infrastructure disparities in lower income neighborhoods, which were found to have fewer crosswalks and pedestrian buttons than wealthier areas. He added that fines are typically $250 or above, impacting lower income Californians and students the most.

“Closer to home, many Cal students also don’t have a lot of extra money,” Ting said in an email. “It doesn’t make sense to ticket them for jaywalking when safe on slower streets like Bancroft, Oxford or Center near the campus.”

California has one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the United States, according to public health professor emeritus David Ragland. He noted mid-block pedestrian crashes pose a great threat to road safety, noting that 6,497 fatal or severe crashes occurred between 2012 and 2021.

Ragland added that existing research related to pedestrian risk and police enforcement have been distinct, though he aims to link the two concepts in his future studies.

“There has been little focus on a comprehensive balancing of positive and adverse aspects of enforcement of jaywalk and/or violations in mid-block crossing in a California setting,” Ragland said in an email. “Our research synthesis will aim to address this balance.”

https://www.dailycal.org/2022/...alking-in-california

I'm wondering if this is fallout from the protest/demonstration days when Antifa, addicts, and other "peaceful protesters" stood in the streets, blocked traffic, and could cross/stand in intersections because they ruled the streets.

When some semblance of vehicle activity resumed, the walkers failed to re-adjust to the realities of daily traffic.

One of the times I did a job in Silicon Valley, I booked a flight home from OAK (Oakland California).

There was a CHP motorcycle cop standing by the crosswalk from rental car area to the terminal. It had a traffic light.

When it would turn red there were invariably a couple of people in the street and the CHP would make them stand there and write them tickets.

A guy I was talking to from Australia said that the CHP was gestapo and I told him to be careful or they'd probably run him in.

Anyway, finally a woman came along, the light turned red and the CHP told her to come over to where he was.

She said "Ich verstehe nicht". He repeated the command to come where he was. She said "Ich verstehe nicht" again. (It means I don't understand in German.)

So the CHP shook his head and went back to what he was doing, figuring she didn't speak English.

As she was walking by me I said "Ausgezeichnet" (excellent)

She smiled at me and said "Thank you" in unaccented English. I about died laughing and decided if the CHP ever tried to stop me, I'd do the same thing she did. Two years of High School German classes might come in handy.

Even if the pedestrians have the legal right of way they can be still be graveyard dead by not getting their head out of their backsides and pay attention to things going on around them at all times. ....... And same goes to vehicle drivers who are following all legal driving rules and regulations could be taken into court under civil legal actions for something that they did or possibly did not do...... That is just the way that it is in todays world. ........................... drill sgt.